After Xceligent bites the dust, CoStar announces Kansas City deal

Weeks after Xceligent declared bankruptcy and folded, the data company’s main rival and chief legal antagonist CoStar Group planted a flag in its hometown of Kansas City, Missouri.

On Wednesday, CoStar announced that it had formed a partnership with the Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors. As part of the deal, CoStar will become the “exclusive data, analytics and marketing provider” for the association, it said in a news release.

In December 2016, CoStar filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Xceligent, alleging that the company, led by Doug and Erin Curry, stole its images. A year later, Xceligent filed for Chapter 7 liquidation amid spiraling legal costs and disappointing earnings. Hundreds lost their jobs at the Kansas City office.

CoStar has a history of passive aggressive (and at times openly aggressive) PR tactics against its competitors. After it reached a settlement with data company RealMassive in a separate copyright infringement lawsuit, the company sent out a statement accusing RealMassive of being “powered by content that was stolen from those who created it through hard work and investment.”

Last year, CoStar sent a brochure to Xceligent customers with news clippings claiming that one of its contractors was tied to sex trafficking. And after the rival filed for liquidation, CoStar issued a statement claiming Xceligent “failed as a result of business missteps over two decades.”